Ah, we’re getting there!

Pe (Psalm 119:129-136) (ESV)

Your testimonies are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
I open my mouth and pant,
because I long for your commandments. Turn to me and be gracious to me,
as is your way with those who love your name.
Keep steady my steps according to your promise,
and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
Redeem me from man’s oppression,
that I may keep your precepts.
Make your face shine upon your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
My eyes shed streams of tears,
because people do not keep your law.

This section of the Psalm reinforces the last three sections quite nicely. When we get God’s promises, precepts, and statutes, in our hearts, we realize how wonderful they are. We can see how wonderful they make our lives. When we realize that, our souls are affected; and sometimes very powerfully. “Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.” That’s a nice little prayer. Remember that iniquity is our attitude toward sin. We can do a good deal of damage to ourselves with the wrong attitude(s). I redeem myself from man’s oppression by heeding God’s Word-what He says I am, and not what someone else says. This includes all that negative self talk.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Thanks For Loving Me, Daddy!

Yes, I call Him Daddy! He’s ours forever, perfect in love, and oh, so wonderful to us!

Yodh Psalm 119:73-80 (ESV)

Your hands have made and fashioned me;
give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice,
because I have hoped in your word.
I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Let your steadfast love comfort me
according to your promise to your servant.
Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight.
Let the insolent be put to shame,
because they have wronged me with falsehood;
as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
Let those who fear you turn to me,
that they may know your testimonies.
May my heart be blameless in your statutes,
that I may not be put to shame!

I can tell you from my own experience, when you understand you, you’re in a powerful position. When you begin to understand why you fear the things you do, do the things you do, and the way you do them, you begin to see things a little more clearly. This promotes progress, if you let it. This is when we begin to see God’s love for us in every aspect of our lives. It’s also when we become emboldened to run to Him instead of away from Him in times of trouble.

There is nothing like God’s mercy! When you get that, and reach for that every time you’re struggling, or failing, or falling, you do overcome the death sting of that weakness within you. That battle is won! Your dream will not die! You will overcome and rise from that struggle, failure, or fall. God’s mercy will breathe life into your soul, and lead you to victory. That’s why we do meditate on His precepts, His law, and His promises.

Finally, “may my heart be blameless.” Heavenly Father, strengthen me to know that blame is an excuse. Strengthen me to seek out the reason; the cause. Keep me from blaming you, someone else, or even myself. Blame points a finger; mercy seeks the cause and the cure.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Simply Put

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 116. It’s one that reminds us to just stand up and tell the truth. Simply put, “Get real,” it says. LOL I want to focus on verses 5-7, but I hope you’ll read the entire psalm for yourselves. It’s a good check point.

“Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful. The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.”

Did you get that part about God being righteous and merciful? The one reason we’re afraid to get real with Him, I think, is because we don’t get that. God always judges rightly. He sees our hearts. God is always merciful. It may not seem like it when the stuff hits the fan in your life. but God is always merciful. All that stuff is what you’re reaping from something you’ve sown. Even then, God is merciful to us and deals bountifully with us. He gives us the strength to get through it, and the wisdom to learn from it, if we allow Him to. That’s where that “get real,” thing comes in. You can’t play games with God; He knows everything! So, if you’re not fooling Jesus, who are you fooling? That’s right; you’re fooling yourself. I’m speaking from personal experience. It works so much better and so much faster when you just get real; with Him, and with yourself. Then, your soul can be at rest (peace) to learn, correct, and overcome that thing that got you. Before you know it, the mess is cleaned up, God loves you and has you loving yourself even more than you did back then, and it’s all good. LOL

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Write Them Down

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 103.. King David wrote it, and it is so awesome! The first five verses, alone, just get your spirit stirred up. Beginning with verse 2-5: “Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Forget not His benefits. Make a list, just like the one in this psalm. There’s more all throughout the psalm. Those verses just kind of sum it all up for us.

The rest of the psalm lists more of those benefits, and tells us how much God loves us, and how compassionate and tender He is toward us. (V8-14) “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”

I had an incredible experience in the spirit, over this very psalm. My father-in-law was in a nursing home, and dying. He was afraid to die, because He didn’t believe that God could really forgive Him for the things he’d done. My sister also happened to be his daughter-in-law, and she visited him regularly. I never went to the nursing home, myself. I referred her to the 103rd psalm, when she expressed concern about his being afraid to die. She visited him twice more, but each time, he was asleep, and didn’t wake up. I copied the psalm down on a piece of paper, and put it under a prayer candle. I would light the candle and pray that psalm for him. One night, approximately 1: 30 a.m., my baby girl woke up for her bottle, and since I was awake, I decided to pray for him again. Laying beside her, I began to pray. I almost always say the Lord’s prayer before I pray other prayers; so I began to pray the Lord’s prayer. Suddenly, I was standing in my father-in-law’s room at the nursing home. I called out His name, and He said, “Who’s there?” I called out His name again, and then I said, “In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, your sins are forgiven; accept your peace.” Right then I woke up, and it was about 7 a.m. My father-in-law passed away at approximately 1:30 a.m. the next morning. Verse 19 of the psalm says, “The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.” That includes time and space.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Reason To Stay Close

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 94, and it’s really something to think about. Often, when we’re going through stuff, we don’t see God working in the storm. When I read this psalm, I think about Jesus sleeping in the back of the boat, while the storm was raging. The disciples thought for sure they were going to die. But, where God is, there is always perfect peace. We don’t often grasp that, but God is a god of order, and not chaos; of perfect peace. “Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” It comes down to deliberately choosing not to allow your faith to be shaken.

“Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge—the LORD—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.” *(They are futile) (Psalm 94:8-11) (ESV) This lets us know that God doe see, hear, discipline, and rebuke those who need it. By this, we can see that God is working in the midst of it all.

Verses 12-14 assure us that God loves us, and will not let us go. “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.” The Holy Spirit will always convict us of our wrongdoing, and guide us back to the truth, life, and way; to the Word of God.

Verses 16-19 give us a clear picture of just how helpless we are against the wiles of the devil, without God by our side, and on our side. “Who rises up for me against the wicked?
“Who stands up for me against evildoers? If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” God is not only there to correct us. He’s there to encourage us when we’re unsure, and to comfort us when we’re struggling within. When we, as parents and partners, husbands and wives, teammates, friends, are there for those in our lives, like God is for us, life truly is better. Our relationships are empowered to be so much stronger and more joyful.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Through His Eyes

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 86. It’s a prayer of King David. When I read it, I think of my own childhood, and of my children. We all too often forget just how much we mean to them, and how they see us. Whenever I read this psalm, I have to thank God for my grandmother. And, when I think of my busy little self…oh, my gosh, Oma, I love you so much; and I’m so sorry I made you work so hard -and so thankful for your endless patience and love!

Verses 1-4 begin the prayer: “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.” Poor and needy is a humble soul/spirit; a hungry spirit. Godly, yes! God doesn’t impute wickedness to His children. He sees the best in us! He assumes the best intentions on our part. I think of hearing that “Mama, Mama, Mama,” and later that “Mom” from the time they woke up to the time they fell asleep. LOL Their hearts are in our hands.

Verse 11 is the simple truth. “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” When I think of a united heart, I think of one that is sure of the truth, and sure of the teacher. That means there is no conflict, everything lines up. The actions prove the words.

Verses 14-16 give us a picture of doubt trying to sneak in and destroy truth and faith. Verse 17 gives us the remedy. “Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.” That sign of favor is the hug when they come in the door, that “you can do it, baby,” when they’re unsure, and even that mama racing across the parking lot with fire shooting out of her eyes because Baby was just threatened. Yes, that was this mama. LOL It ended peacefully, I’m happy to say.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Not All In Vain At All

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 73. The psalm covers a long list of what the wicked do and can expect; of what they are like. The psalmist, Asaph, also tells on himself regarding his attitude, and his pity party. That pity party is what I want to focus on.

Verses 21&22: “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.” Oh, when I read this, I think of Jesus’ words about the good man bringing good treasure out of the good stored up inside. Then, there’s (Matthew 5:19) that tells us evil thought proceed out of the heart. (Proverbs 4:23) tells us to guard our hearts above all else, because the issues of life flow from it. (Proverbs 5:13) tells us that a crushed spirit comes from a broken heart.

Verses 13-15 give us an example of one of the most famous pity party speeches: “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,”I would have betrayed the generation of your children.” “Poor, poor, pitiful me! I don’t know why I bother. What have I done it all for?!” That was me, and more than a few times. I finally got it. Yay, me! “It is not you who is in control, my dear; it’s ME!-you know, God?” Cain had that poor, poor, pitiful me attitude. He ended up murdering his brother.

Your Cain will kill your Able (Abel). God told Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” There are a couple of things we can see here. First, this is the same game that Satan played with Adam and Eve. He caused Eve to question, or doubt, God’s love for her. And now, Cain was angry because he felt slighted by God. Sin is also another word for Satan’s working. Secondly, there’s a revelation about who you really are in the next statement: “It’s desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” You are created in God’s image, and after His likeness; which is LOVE. Perfect/perfected love drives out fear. I believe most sin is based in fear of one sort or another. We’re afraid we’re not loved as much as someone else is, we’re afraid we’re missing out on something if we don’t have everything someone else does, etc. It goes back to that heart thing. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8) Pure can mean, untouched; free of chaos, doubt, etc., and filled with peace, love, and joy. Seeing God is seeing past the immediate moment; seeing further, to the possibility in a situation-even a bad one. Seeing God is having hope, which fosters courage and empowers faith. Faith assures us that the outcome is already taken care of. We have only to walk in the love of God, and let Him have His Will. -His will for us, and for others. Nothing you do with and for God is done in vain. As for the wicked, we war not against flesh and blood, but against the power, the principalities, and the hosts of spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. The best thing, still, one can do, is to pray for your enemies. You never really know what they may have gone through, or may be going through themselves.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Resting In God

I apologize for the error in yesterday’s post. The message comes from Psalm 61, not Psalm 60. Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 62. It speaks to us about resting in God, for one thing. If anybody’s living proof that one needs to do that more often, it would be me. I get moving on my projects and start picking up speed, and the next thing you know, I’m sprawled out in front of Jesus praying, “Help me get up, Lord.” LOL We can get going so fast that we lose track of where we’re at, and we end up losing focus.

God is a fortress of rest for one’s soul. When you truly get into that fortress with Him, nothing can shake or disturb that peace there. Verse 7 is a great spiritual booster when we get hold of it. “My salvation and my honor rest on God.” That tells me I don’t need to try to “look like I got it goin’ on.” In Christ, you have got it “goin’ on!” And, it’s always going on, because the law of the kingdom of Heaven is progress. Verse 8 tells us to pour out our hearts before Him. You know, God is the best listener I’ve ever known. Yes, He does care about your heart. The issues of life flow from it, and He told us to guard our hearts well. Verses 11 and 12 are our assurance that God’s got it; and God;s got us. “God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God, and loving devotion to You, O Lord. For You will repay each man according to his deeds.” That can also be found in (Romans 2:6) God will repay each man according to his deeds.

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Strengthen Me For Them, Lord

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 51, and it’s a psalm King David wrote after the prophet Nathan came to him about his adultery with Bathsheba.

Verse 1 is David’s plea: “Have mercy on me according to your steadfast love, and your abundant mercy.” Blot out my transgressions. In terms of generational curses and life recovery, this is so crucial. Discipline coming from anger, frustration, even hatred, or self-loathing, is never, ever, effective. it’s destructive. Love builds up, these others tear down and tear apart. Love is merciful, and remembers the weakness and frailty of the soul. that’s why the first thing we do is make sure the person is alright, and assure him/her, reassure him/her that the world is not about to end. We need to do that with ourselves, our own souls, as well. Blotting out the transgressions is the act of not counting them against a person. (“This is the fifteenth time…,” “All you do is cause trouble and make messes…”) No, we wash that one from his/her iniquity (attitude about sin) through that reassurance and mercy. We cleanse that one from his/her sin by discovering the truth about the sin (motivation, what really happened, and how we can correct it). Verse 6 confirms that for us: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (ESV)

Verse 7 brings us a revelation: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” I looked up Hyssop. {In the Old Testament hyssop was used to sprinkle blood as part of the Jewish Passover. Hyssop was mentioned in the Bible for its cleansing effect in connection with plague, leprosy and chest ailments and symbolically in cleansing the soul.- (arborgate.com) The word plague, when used as a verb, means to cause continual trouble or distress to. Does sin do that to us? -Yes, and to others in our lives, right? When I looked up leprosy, I found some symptoms that are common in sin and iniquity too: Symptoms include light colored or red skin patches with reduced sensation, numbness and weakness in hands and feet. (Mayo Clinic) I’ve spoken before about Jesus’ hands and feet being pierced by the nails. When you’re mind is hedged in (iniquity) your hands usually don’t achieve much-or not as much as you could. Your feet don’t get you nearly as far as you could go, and where they do lead you often, is into more sin. Those chest aliments can kill you. When it’s hard to breathe, it’s hard to live.

Verses 10-12 are the most important ones in this psalm. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. When we deal with our loved ones, and ourselves in the admonition of the LORD/Lord, we are creating a clean heart, renewing a right, or steadfast spirit. The presence of a loved one is a powerful weapon; especially in troubled times. The memory of that one brings that power back to us. The Holy Spirit is ever present with us, and counsels, guides, comforts, encourages, and builds us up. In Verse 13 David tells us why that’s important: “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” We want those loved ones to come to us for help, rather than end up in the wrong hands with the wrong people.

Finally, in verse 17 we learn the importance of being ready and able to receive that correction and instruction. (Matthew 13:4-9) I remember well how many times I turned around and did the exact same thing I’d done the last time…and regretted it…until I finally regretted it enough to actually want to receive the truth, correction, and instruction…and make the needed changes! Thank you. Lord, for your fathomless mercy, grace, and patience!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

It’s Enough To Get You Through

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 46. April is Sexual Assault Awareness month; and, as a survivor of sexual abuse and sexual assault, I have to tell you this psalm comes at just the right time. Sexual assault and abuse leaves your feeling as if your whole world has given way, or is giving way beneath you. But, God is a very present help in times of trouble. He is with us and for us. Verse 16 is my anchor when the storms are raging, when my soul feels ravaged, savaged, and torn. “Be still, and know that I am God.” I remember whispering that and hearing the words echoing within themselves. But, I kept whispering it until the storm in my heart was calmed. It’s never failed; every storm was calmed. And, yes, God will be exalted in the earth. I’m a little piece of earth He created; and I’m living proof. His glory reigns no matter what shakes your world! He will bring you through; and knowing Him is enough to get you through.

This song by Brooks and Dunn came to mind as I was writing this. I hope it blesses you.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu